The Faithful Song of Simeon: A Christmas Season Meditation on Luke 2

And when the days of her purification

according to the law of Moses were accomplished,

they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;

(As it is written in the law of the Lord,

Every male that openeth the womb

shall be called holy to the Lord;)

And to offer a sacrifice according to that

 which is said in the law of the Lord,

A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

 

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem,

whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout,

waiting for the consolation of Israel:

and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost,

that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

 And he came by the Spirit into the temple:

and when the parents brought in the child Jesus,

to do for him after the custom of the law,

Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,

according to thy word:

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

 

And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.

 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother,

Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel;

and for a sign which shall be spoken against;

(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,)

 that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

 

The story of Simeon and his encounter with Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, is one that echoes down through the centuries in ways easy to overlook.  This Christmas season vignette has so moved the church that the Song of Simeon, in Latin called the Nunc Dimittis, has been sung by Christians in numerous ancient rites of prayer, and at the conclusion of the Lord’s Supper, for centuries.  While the church often orders this reading after Christmas day, it is as fully part of the Christmas story as the Nativity, the Angels’ announcement to the shepherds keeping watch over their fields by night, and the arrival of the Wise Men from the East.

 

Simeon is an old man when we meet him in Luke 2, having spent the many years of his devout life serving in and around the Temple.  In addition to his knowledge of, and faith in, the Scriptures regarding the coming of the Messiah, he was also given a personal revelation that he would not die before seeing the Messiah in the flesh.  We are not told how long before this moment he received this prophecy, or all the ups and downs of his long life before the Spirit moved him to enter the Temple on the day of Mary and Joseph’s presentation of Jesus.  While the ruling class of the Temple, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, are shown as hostile to Jesus roughly 30 years later, we know very little about whether Simeon’s hopeful expectation of the prophesied Messiah was a minority or majority opinion among his peers.  But regardless, we know that Simeon held on in patient faith for the revelation of the One who would come not only to be the consolation of the Jewish people, but also the enlightenment of the entire world.  It was the patient and enduring faith of a long and faithful life, which culminated in the joyous song of thankful departure knowing that the promise was fulfilled.  Simeon’s own eyes had seen the salvation of his people come in the flesh, just as the Word of the Lord had promised, and he could rest in joyous knowledge of God’s saving grace made manifest.

 

This is why the church continues to sing Simeon’s song.  It is a declaration of the fulfillment of God’s promise not only to the Jewish people through whom the Holy Spirit moved the Prophets to testify of the coming of Jesus, but also of the Gospel promise which would give light and life to the whole world.  This Light would break like the dawn in Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee, Jerusalem, and all Judea, but its life-giving rays would reach out across the globe to the Samaritans, the Greeks, the Romans, the Africans, the Asians, the Europeans, and to every people on every shore and in every hamlet across the globe.  There would be no remote village or colony, no great empire or Republic, which could be hidden beyond its Light, for the Savior of the World had come to save the whole world.  This Jesus, God with Us, was promised not only to the Jews, but as the gracious gift of salvation, forgiveness, grace, life, and hope to the entire world through the Jews.  This is not a mythic tale told in a local cultural vacuum, a poetic legend without historic grounding in demonstrable fact, but rather the Work and Promise of Almighty God witnessed and recorded down through the ages, ancient and yet present in every age.  This is the story of the Creator of all people who fulfilled His loving promise to be the Savior and Sanctifier of all people, through the Incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Simeon’s song speaks to the fire of youth, that a life lived in faith will see its gracious fulfilment, just as it speaks to all the seasons of life where temptation and distraction and fear would lead people to despair of the promises of God.  This song of joyous thanksgiving, shared with us by Simeon at the dusk of his earthly life, rings through our churches and our souls even as we approach our own time of departure, knowing that as God has been faithful to fulfill His Word for the salvation of the world, He has been faithful to us as individuals to save us, as well.  Thus we live in patient faith each day we are given in this world, prepared for that peaceful transition to eternal life in the world to come, content and confident in the gracious salvation which comes to us in Jesus.  This is why Simeon’s song is a Christmas hymn, sung throughout the Christian year in churches across the globe and down through the centuries, echoing the boundless of joy of knowing Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith, and the pierced Hand from which our life can never be taken:

 

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,

according to thy word:

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

 

Amen.